Over the past two months, the Planning Department has been playing games with the 2022 housing element—an eight-year plan that says how the city will accommodate new housing, and which has to be reviewed by state bureaucrats. We are frustrated by the city's willingness to blow off state rules around this plan over and over in the last few months. We have one last shot to get this right before San Francisco proposes to pass a housing element on January 31st.

On December 7, San Francisco released a new final draft claiming it fixed the problems of the previous final draft published in November. We are exasperated. Despite multiple rounds of feedback from the state since August, the city still refuses to answer a single, central question: Will San Francisco make the changes necessary to fix the housing crisis?

San Francisco has made concessions to the state after residents told the city loud and clear that the city must do more. But the Planning Department is still nibbling around the edges of the problem. At SF YIMBY, we have been thankful to everyone who has given comment so far. We are disappointed to tell you once again that city officials are still playing chicken with hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing and transit grant funds.

City planners have responded to calls for accountability by promising to study blockers to housing production—but they don't promise to DO anything with those studies. And the city is refusing to follow directions set by state planners in an effort to keep the current system in place. This is our last chance to tell the Planning Commission that this will not fly.

And if you can attend the hearing on Thursday, December 15, please give public comment by calling phone number 415-655-0001, and using access code 2485 631 6748. You can find the meeting agenda here.